VA job fair connects veterans with community
BUTLER TWP — For Shawn Ayres, a former U.S. Marine, attending VA Butler Healthcare’s second annual job fair Friday, Aug. 16, was an opportunity to both look for work and connect with the local community after moving from Ohio.
Ayres, a homeless veteran, was among dozens who attended the event, along with Larry Dunlap, who served in the U.S. Air Force as an active duty military police officer, and is a single father.
“I am so glad I came,” Dunlap said. “I’ve never actually experienced a job fair.”
Dunlap, of Butler Township, said he planned to stay until the end of the fair to make sure he spoke to as many people as he could.
“There are some powerful situations in here,” Dunlap said. “I’m a single dad with an 11-year-old. She’ll be 12 in a couple days. I have to work consistently. I may get to take a break here and there, but not often.”
Greeting veterans and helping them register was Harry Smith, a community-based employment specialist at the VA, whom Dunlap considers a mentor, he said.
Smith, along with Danelle Perkins, a community employment coordinator, helped plan the event with Norm Magliocca from CareerLink and Josh Seybert, outreach coordinator.
Smith’s role is to engage with veterans in the community. Perkins’ is to connect with employers. On Friday afternoon, 30 employers were set up to speak with veterans. In years to come, she said she hopes to bring in employers from outside Butler County, including from Armstrong, Clarion, Lawrence and Mercer counties, which are areas serviced by the VA Butler Healthcare System.
“I would say, you know, we're trying to run the gamut, actually, so that's why we have manufacturing jobs, entry level employers here, UPMC, health care jobs,” Perkins said. “We're trying to make it varied, so that we can kind of reach every veteran.”
The job fair also encourages veterans not enrolled in services with the VA to register, said Paula McCarl, public affairs officer.
“That’s how our budget is based,” McCarl said. “We need veterans to utilize our services — that way, future veterans can too.”
Perkins said the VA also offers a job club tailored to homeless veterans in collaboration with CareerLink. Homeless veterans may struggle with transportation, she said, which is why the VA also offers a ride-share program.
Ayres lives in the VA Butler Healthcare Medical Center’s domiciliary, a homeless shelter for veterans at risk. He was able to attend the job fair by riding a shuttle provided by the VA.
He moved in May after his contract for subsidized housing ended. Before the move, he had entered a residential inpatient program for substance use disorder.
Ayres said he didn’t want to relapse. Being unemployed, the next logical step, he said, was to confer with his local community based outpatient clinic. He was referred to Butler County to undergo treatment for substance use disorder.
Ayres served active duty from 1997 into 2001, working as a finance technician before serving in the color guard and representing the U.S. Marine Corps “with the highest honors,” he said.
Three years from now, Ayres said his vision is to “become an upstanding citizen,” and integrate into the local community. Looking to the future, he is also considering making his way to a bigger city.
For Ayres, it’s one step at a time.
“It’s a change of atmosphere that is welcomed,” he said about making the move to Butler County. “It’s been an eye-opening, mind-opening, enlightening experience. It’s welcomed because Butler is a slower-paced community compared to a faster-paced city.”
